"With an innovative folding mechanism its platform has the ability to change its width from that of a conventional passenger car (when in driving mode) to that of a motorcycle (when in parking mode), allowing the driver to leave the car in parking spaces reserved for motorists.

Combining the best features of both vehicle types, this new personal transportation mode will give the driver the safety and the true feeling of driving a car and at the same time offering the convenience of parking a motorcycle. Powered by electric batteries and super light in weight, the two-seater City Transformer is an ideal mode for city transportation."

kingdragonfly:Combining the best features of both vehicle types, this new personal transportation mode will give the driver the safety and the true feeling of driving a car

Doesn't look to me to be as safe as a regular car. Looks to me to be very lightweight, so if there's any collision you and your lightweight will be doing all the decellerating, not the other vehicle. So, even if the thing is as strong as a regular car, you'll still be more likely to be injured. And those wheels look like they come off a wheelbarrow.

kingdragonfly:Combining the best features of both vehicle types, this new personal transportation mode will give the driver the safety and the true feeling of driving a car

Doesn't look to me to be as safe as a regular car. Looks to me to be very lightweight, so if there's any collision you and your lightweight will be doing all the decellerating, not the other vehicle. So, even if the thing is as strong as a regular car, you'll still be more likely to be injured. And those wheels look like they come off a wheelbarrow.

I'd pootle round a CBD or office park at low speeds in one, but there is no way I would go out to play with trucks and buses on a main arterial...

Will electric cars ever be affordable to the masses over the next 40 years (my life time!)? I'm not hopeful.

Yes, they will. For one thing, a lot of very big countries and some cities - including Auckland - will be banning ICE cars on a 10-20 year horizon.

We almost got there but you can't fight economics and win. Just sad.

We may or may not be awash in 'cheap oil' right now - if so, I haven't seen it; petrol is still around $2.10-$2.20/L around here - but the thing about oil is that a) it is going to run out, b) most of it is controlled by the most unstable, human-rights-abusive regimes on the planet and c) Mazda notwithstanding, most global manufacturing groups are going all out on EVs in the next 5 years. If Tesla went out of business tomorrow, that would be sad, but it isn't the end of EVs.

In fact, even Mazda is currently in a partnership with Toyota to exchange their SkyActiv engines for Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell technology.

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I agree, I would be quite happy to have a full EV but I cannot see them being affordable in my lifetime unless.......The government ( under the pretext of climate change) taxes ICEs out of existence, but I'll still keep my 73 Triumph 2500.

Bobdn: The world is awash with cheap oil and the ICE is about to get a major update with Mazda Sky Activ-X technology, making it even more efficient.

Details provided so far put that at around 4.9 liters per 100km on the highway only. It's good but not stunning.

Can you quote a source for that?

As far as I'm aware output and fuel consumption specs for Skyactiv-X have not yet been released, but last I heard they were talking about an approximate 30% reduction in fuel consumption compared with the existing 2l Skyactiv-G mill. If they manage to deliver on that then they will achieve a lower figure than what you have quoted above, at least for hot running.

I only do highway driving, so the Skyactiv-X is likely to be more economically viable for me than an electrified powertrain if Mazda can deliver on what they've promised.

Bobdn: The world is awash with cheap oil and the ICE is about to get a major update with Mazda Sky Activ-X technology, making it even more efficient.

Details provided so far put that at around 4.9 liters per 100km on the highway only. It's good but not stunning.

Can you quote a source for that?

As far as I'm aware output and fuel consumption specs for Skyactiv-X have not yet been released, but last I heard they were talking about an approximate 30% reduction in fuel consumption compared with the existing 2l Skyactiv-G mill. If they manage to deliver on that then they will achieve a lower figure than what you have quoted above, at least for hot running.

I only do highway driving, so the Skyactiv-X is likely to be more economically viable for me than an electrified powertrain if Mazda can deliver on what they've promised.

China is jumping in with both boots to EV's for a number of reasons, including deadly smog, but also national pride. They want to be innovators. It also makes sense because China makes many of the batteries, and it just makes sense to put that into locally produced cars.

So that a long way of saying Tesla has gotten a lot of competition, and in 2019 are getting a lot more competition

Bobdn: The world is awash with cheap oil and the ICE is about to get a major update with Mazda Sky Activ-X technology, making it even more efficient.

This is what I'd call "the opposite of Russian engineering." It's a highly engineered engine, both mechanically and software wise. with high compression, relying on precision both in air intake, fuel injection, and combustion timing.

The supercharger is also odd in that it's not for performance, but rather for efficiency; it strictly for controls airflow.

To say this engine is tweaked heavily is an understatement. I'd wouldn't buy the version 1.0 of this engine, but wait a few years.

The really unusual thing about this engine is it appears to do better with low-octane (cheap) fuel.

In the next 10 years, battery improvements will be dramatic, since batteries are used in more than just cars, but ICE engines improvements are already extremely complex.

I hate to be "that guy" but ignoring the pollution problem, and our continued existance on the planet Earth, ethically most oil is produced by, I'll just say it, nasty brutish countries.

SkyActiv has been around a while, you're not buying the 1st gen of it if you buy a new Mazda now.

SkyActiv-G and -D are established technologies, but -X is a whole different beast because it uses homogenous charge compression ignition.

Having said that, I think I would be comfortable to buy into it as soon as it hits the market because the engineering involved doesn't seem to me to be as complex as some people are making out. Yes, it will be very sensitive to timing and mixture, but if they mess that up then I'm sure it could be fixed with a firmware update.